It all started with a dream...

Our Story

Three college friends (and loving wives) envisioned a peaceful place to reconnect.

Mike, Eric and Brad were introduced to the Riau Islands along with their wives on a tour of Indonesia back in 2000. The group had dreamed of building an experience that would capture people’s imagination and transform lives. While looking for the perfect location their local host took them to a nearby beach to swim with their families. As they sat together under a palm on the beach they said to each other, “This is our beach… let’s buy it and get started!”

Free from the boundaries of formal hospitality training the group envisioned an experience they could thoroughly enjoy themselves. What they imagined was a different kind of tour company and resort destination flavored by the local culture and environment that captured the romantic elements of an island escape. They also envisioned a company in which the local community is central to its ethos and not part of a program. Young enough and naive enough, they decided to make the leap.

The Telunas Philosophy

Simplify. Clarify. Connect.

Reception without a desk.

Telunas was built to feel like home because when you come here you become family. Every guest is welcomed on the dock when the boat arrives – no reception desk and no taxi line.

A wi-fi & ring free zone.

Technology has a place in our lives, but Telunas is where you escape from the never-ending ringing, notifications and status updates that can be an assault on our senses.

Enjoy the wind-conditioning.

Guest rooms are built over the sea to utilize the timeless natural cooling of over water construction. At night you can hear the gentle ripple of waves beneath your room.

Timeless Enjoyment

Fun that doesn’t include a screen or start button.

Our True Bottom Line

Our priority is to be a trusted member of the community.

Local employment

Where possible, we train and employ staff from the local islands, instead of bringing in outside labor. Many of our staff are local Malay villagers that we trained to meet our high customer service standards.

Traditional architecture and construction

Our facilities are modeled after surrounding traditional Malay architecture and wisdom. By building over the water, the ocean naturally cools the rooms without wasteful energy consumption.

Responsible tour offerings

We were not content with offering the standard cultural arts program, so we worked with surrounding communities to develop tours that are interesting for guests and value adding for the local people.